Biryani, round two, was an absolute success! May and Duane scoffed the aromatic, spicy repast and reaped the leftovers. I declare biryani a crowd-pleasing, fail-safe dish. Hell even the NY Times wrote about it today. I sense a biryani zeitgeist. Jim is toying with the idea of opening a wine bar; I told him he must offer a small plate of biryani cooked by yours truly. I guarantee an instant success.

” alt=”Biryani at May & Duane’s” />

Speaking of wine. May Matta holds a WSET diploma, teaches wine classes at the International Wine Center in New York, is the US brand ambassador for Armagnac and does graphic design for wine shops, wine labels. She is a very talented [married] hottie.  I told her that I was bringing the 2001 Tissot Savagnin to drink with the meal and so she headed to Astor to pick a wine for before din-din. Her choice was pure brilliance and fit in with the Jura theme -  Dom. de Montbourgeau Crémant de Jura ($20.99). Talk about lemony. This is fizz that tastes as if someone squeezed half a fresh lemon into it with, as May said, a touch of chalk. It was salivating, focused and woke my palate the hell up.

As for the Tissot, it was beautifully oxidized – you can see in these photos that it was the color of dehydrated pee and I can confirm that oxidative-style wines are really good with Indian spices.

” alt=”Jura and Biryani” />

On the other hand the Lemasson Poivre et Sel [$18 from Blue Angel Wines] got a bit lost next to the spicy chow but what a gorgeous, cloudy, funky, floral, bloody-iodine, mineral bottle of a wine it is.

Chicken fat is caramelizing in the bottom of the pot, while I write this. Yep, I’m cooking my second biryani, per my mother’s recipe. Jim and I will be schlepping the pot with side salad accoutrements [tomato with onion, cilantro, and chili salad, a plain cucumber salad and some Patak’s lime pickle!) to our dear friend’s, May and Duane’s, apartment for dinner. And I am going to offer the dish with an oxidized, sous voile, Tissot Savagnin and the Lemasson Poivre et Sel [gamay and pineau d’aunis].

In Mauritius, biryani is cooked in massive quantities for weddings, birthdays and any sort of special occasion. It is a Muslim specialty but any Mauritian housewife worth her weight in cloves and cardamoms, can cook the dish. I’ve long been intimidated by the process (marinate chicken, precook onions, potatoes, wash and chop a dozen different ingredients) until I had my mother demonstrate the drill step-by-step. And guess what? It’s easy peasy. Here’s the recipe – for four hungry mouths.

Ingredients

4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped ginger
2Ibs chicken (drumsticks and thighs preferably)
½ cup of plain yoghurt
1 ¼ tablespoon of cumin powder
3 tablespoons of Biryani Mix (I will soon master my own blend)
3 medium sized onions, sliced
5 medium sized potatoes, quartered
1 small bunch of mint
1 small bunch of cilantro
1 cup of peas
2 cups of Tilda Basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp of cumin seeds
3 cardamoms
¼ tsp of saffron threads
Ghee
Canola Oil

Mix yoghurt, garlic, ginger, biryani mix and 1 tsp of salt to a paste. Coat chicken pieces and leave in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

In the meanwhile deep fry onions with a pinch of salt in canola oil until they are brown and crispy, but not burned. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add potatoes to same oil, with the addition of ½ tablespoon of ghee, a pinch of salt and a pinch of turmeric powder (to give the potatoes a yellow-golden color). Fry until potatoes are halfway cooked. Put to the side.

If you are using fresh peas, half cook them. If frozen, no need to cook.

Fill a large pan with about six cups of water. Bring to a boil. Salt the water and tip in cinnamon stick, cumin seeds and cardamoms. Add rice. Once water comes back to a boil, give the pot a stir. Let the rice cook only until halfway. Drain and leave to the side with spices still mixed in.

Put the marinated chicken and paste into the bottom of a thick, large pot. Tip in most of the coriander and mint (leave a little of both though). Add potatoes, Add ½ a cup of peas. Sprinkle in a little salt. Tip in all the rice with spices. Season with salt and pepper. Add remaining peas and remaining cilantro and mint. Add saffron threads to a little warm water and sprinkle into the pot. Add three knobs of ghee. Finish with a blanket of the crispy onions. Do NOT mix everything up; this should be built in layers.

Put a tight lid on the pot and leave it on a high heat, on the stove, for 5 mins. Then turn heat to low and let cook for half an hour, or until chicken fat is caramelized and rice is cooked.

Fluff it up, and serve with tomato and cucumber salad. The bottom of the pot is the BEST part.

” alt=”Biryani” />

More to come tomorrow on how wine and chow make out together tonight.

Freelance writing is a feast-or-famine roller coaster of highs and lows. My job spans the gamut of drink-related assignments – much of it dull, safe and client advertising-driven. Once in a while an editor takes me up on a really cool pitch [all my pitches are cool and edgy by the way] and I get to delve into an infinitely interesting subject and write about it in a generous two thousand word article.

My most recent thrilling quest was a story on oxidative winemaking [to be published in the September issue of Imbibe]. Part of the research for this article was spent dwelling on the Jura. I have always loved an evolved, aged wine that shows hints of oxidation and lately I’ve become obsessed with Jura’s Savagnin and Chardonnay wines that are held in barrel for up to a decade without topping up – hence the extensive exposure to oxygen – to allow a blanket of flor to develop on the surface, giving the wine a savory, yeasty, almost salty tang.

A few weeks before my assignment I attended a tasting where a handful of producers from the Jura were pouring their wines, many of them not yet imported into the States. Here are the highlights.

CAVES JEAN BOURDY
This historical domaine, dating back to the 1500s, owns 10 hectares of vines, practices biodynamics, is judicious with levels of sulfur and uses no new barrels whatsoever. Their mission statement asserts: “We do not propose young and fruity wines or vins de cepage, like the modern trends, but Jura’s wines such as in the past.” Caves Jean Bourdy have wines available from almost every vintage of the 20th century. The 1953 was a treat.

Côtes du Jura Blanc 2005
Salty and manzanilla sherry like.

Côtes du Jura Rouge 2005
Light, earthy, evolved, beautiful nose and almost reminds me of an old Rhone.

Vin Jaune 2001
Very savory, yeasty and salty with a haunting finish.

Chateau Chalone 2002
Salty, mineral, tons of tertiary tastes and aromas.

Vieux Côtes du Jura 1953
Hints of iodine on the nose, mineral, a bit of citrus peel, rancio and umami.

DOMAINE DE LA PINTE
A fairly young domaine in Arbois; their first vintage was 1959. They own twenty hectares of vines and I believe they are imported by Savio Soares – a relatively new importer causing a lot of buzz right now.

Arbois Pupillin Chardonnay 2006
God bless chardonnay from Jura. Good and great Burgundy aside, Jura makes stunning Chardonnay which, in the right laissez-faire hands, can express mineral soils and take on a whole new meaning when it is aged under flor and slightly oxidized. This Chardonnay is super dry, herbaceous, saline and shows no primary fruit character at all.

Arbois Poulsard 2004
Love a good Poulsard, especially this funky number. Aged for two years in large vats. Barnyard, earthy and addictive.

Crémant du Jura
A blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin. Very yeasty from 3 years spent on the lees. Delicious and textured.

DOMAINE LABET
Julien Labet, one of the younger winemakers present, was eager, articulate and generous with his knowledge of Jura. Uses all large oak barrels between 4-10 years old. He poured a lot of Chardonnay, expressing different terroir from various plots and vintages. Fascinating stuff.

Fleur de Chardonnay 2007
Not made in an oxidized style. Tons of mineral – very much reminded me of Chablis. Herbacious – minty hints. Labet explained that the soils for this vineyard are very rocky and hard to dig.

Chardonnay Les Varrons 2006
Made from sixty-five year old vines. Spicy, quite round and full.

Savagnin Vin de Voile
Made from very ripe grapes, barrels not topped up and left sous voile. Exhilarating acidity and a nice salty tang.

DOMAINE ANDRE ET MIREILLE TISSOT
Stephane Tissot makes very delicious wine. He isn’t a staunch traditionalist and he makes a crazy amount of different wines (twenty something diff labels I believe) in all sorts of styles, from fresh and fruity to evolved and oxidized. When I interviewed him for my piece on oxidative winemaking he told me that people often believe that oxidation masks terroir and to prove them wrong he has made three different Vin Jaune wines from three different plots. They will be released in a few years and I truly hope I get to taste them side by side.  For now:

Crémant Blanc
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a bit of Poulsard. Frothy mousse, soft and refreshing: a vin de soif!

Traminer 2007 [Savagnin]
This was my least favorite in his line up but I have to include it here because Tissot described it as his modern wine. It is made with stainless steel. Very fresh, good fruit, hints of white flowers BUT too squeaky clean.

Savagnin 2005
Very sherry-ish, Lovely and much more up my alley.

Poulsard Vielles Vignes 2006
No SO2 added to this wine. Cloudy, prickly, lovely red fruit. Reminds me of Pinot Noir from the Loire.